[network] @gravedigger; video; Morning 120 [open] [ warnings: Joker, possibly also character death]

[harlequinofhate]

[The Joker looks down at the camera, which is either on a table or in his lap. His features are haggard and he's wearing a makeshift purple scarf. Outside of this, there are few details to take in. With the lighting it's impossible to tell where he is.]

Hallo, Norfin-fury, on a scale from one to ten, one being "abysmal" and ten being "I've had better" how's YOUR week been?

[He coughs into his fist.]

Well, it's about to get even better.

While the rest of you mouth-breathers have been loafing around in the snow I've been a busy little bee. Ace chemist, remember?

[He taps the side of his head.]

Sooo who's to say I haven't been concocting all kinds of wonderful toys since I got here? Maybe I even hid them around town. Along walls. In the tunnels. I'd say you have aboouuut...

[He licks his lips and rolls his sleeve back, showing a childish drawing of a watch on his wrist.]

....Oh, 24 hours, give or take a skosh.

[He drops his chin into his palm.]

After that I'm getting this party started and we'll put the "boom" in "boomtown". Thank me for the warning, by the way. Let nobody say the Joker isn't a sporting man.

...I'm sure that the hive will wake the heck up two minutes from me posting this. Don't bother looking for me. If ya do there will be another death on your hands. This time it really is a hostage situation.

Just keep your mind on the prize: Finding my bombs. All of them. Look high, look low.

Keep moving....keep moving....

[His eyes turn slightly crazed, as if haunted by a recent memory as he reaches down and turns off the tablet. The last thing he says sounds like "Follow the Spiral".]

Comments

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

[There's a part of House that wants to believe this is a lie. There is a part of him that worries it might be the truth. At least in part. Joker definitely knows how to make a bomb, but they'd talked about him needing the supplies. Maybe because he'd already used up what he had? Just wanted more to make something better? Regardless, House is in the tunnels, the hospital, specifically, and he doesn't need this in his life right now. He's dealing with wailing eyeball monsters and a world that won't stop spinning.]

you have phenomenal timing
i hate you

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

Comedy is in the timing, old son.

permatext (his ears are ringing... he ain't talking, bruh.)

[rubikscomplex]

you couldn't wait two days?

@ASolomons; text; public

[devoutish]

[Is this the worst time to be deafened by the sound of people talking? Yup. But a Joker network post is definitely not something that Alfie wants to ignore, so even though it causes the whirring sound in his ears to increase to ear-splitting levels, he watches the video - gritting his teeth against the pain, unable to make out any actual words under the din, but trying to get as much out of the rest of it as he can. It doesn't look good. That tap to the fake watch might indicate a deadline of some sort, and that look in his eyes...]

Mind repeating yourself in writing?

[He leaves the text public, because he's not at all confident that the Joker will go along with the request - but if he doesn't, maybe some other helpful do-gooder will.]

@gravedigger; text

[harlequinofhate]

bombs.

boom.

find them.

one day to do it.

text; private

[devoutish]

[Goddamn he wants to do this on video. This is the worst.]

Why?

@Griever; voice;

[canyouhandlethismany]

[Leon is already feeling like garbage, between his wound and the effect of the galaxy he's a real joke and now he even has to worry about Sora not being himself so...]

Fuck you.

[That's pretty much his only reply. For now.]

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

Maybe later.

@milkevoli; text; private

[brokethefirst]

You said you wouldn't hurt him.

[So either he thought changing that around would be funny, he has a different hostage, or he's lying out his teeth.]

@gravedigger; text; private

[harlequinofhate]

I didn't.

[But Clayton is DEAD. He died painlessly, though. To Joker that means he wasn't hurt.]

@ASolomons; text; public pt. 2

[devoutish]

[Alfie does not particularly want to get blown up today. He has exactly one lead when it comes to possible bomb locations, and it's tenuous at best - based on nothing more than an offhand comment. Possibly, it was thrown out as a red herring. Even more possibly, it meant nothing at all.]

Vents are a good place for bombs, aren't they. Think about checking those.

[It's vaguely helpful at best, but he means it more as a little wave to the Joker than anything else. Hello; I remember things. I'm always paying attention.]

@jwatson; text

[jumpthegun]

[He so doesn't need this in his life. But if he can help...]

Few of these buildings have boards that come up easily, too. Anything that looks like it can be pried up might have been pulled up.

@lockhart; text

[powersouls]

I'm in the hospital. I'll check the vents here.

@ASolomons; text; public pt. 3

[devoutish]

Well then, as long as we're sharing helpful tips. Where has he been spending time lately? Any of you know?

[If the bombs are on a delayed release of some sort, Alfie assumes they were planted very, very recently - within the past day or so, at the very most. Unless the Joker has accomplices, they can't be all over the city. They're sure to be in and around the Joker's current location, and nowhere else.]

@enhance; text

[plundering]

[Wow this is literally the worst week ever!]

You've got to be shitting me.
You couldn't try to blow up something useful?
Thanks. Really thoughtful of you.

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

You're welcome!

@duster, audio;

[bywolves]

You set up a bunch of bombs just for fun? [ He almost sounds amused. ]

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

Yes.

@standardissue; text

[deus_ex_phs]

[Kunsel swears, loud and plain for any of his companions to hear. Dammit, dammit, this is not what they need. Immediately, he tries to contact Clayton.

Unfortunately, there's no response. Cold dread mixes with alarm.

Alright. Different tactic. Time. He needs time and facts.]

Twenty-four hours isn't enough. There aren't enough of us here to give us any real chance to find anything you might have hidden. Not with the size of the town and how far we're spread out.

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

Excuse me, who are you?

[Kain. He remembers, they've spoken. But he's being difficult.]

@milkevoli; text; private (threadjack oops - also cw: suicidal ideations)

[brokethefirst]

[She can tell Kain's in emergency mode, but this is something that not only he has to hear, but she has to know.]

Kain, he's going to kill himself if anyone tries to find him. He just told me that Clayton is not his hostage anymore.

When did you last hear from him?

@Ecks | text

[ecks]

Thank you for the warning.
You are early. You were not supposed to kill us yet.
How many bombs?

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

An uncertain number. Wired to my handy dandy tablet and ready to go at a moment of my choosing.

@gallowsCalibrator | text

[iustitia]

NO
NO MORE J4CKS
1 4M SO T1R3D OF TH1S
1 H4V3 NOT ONC3 M3T 4 S1NGL3 P3RSON WHO W3NT BY TH3 N4M3 OF J4CK TURN OUT TO B3 NOT COMPL3T3LY SH1TTY
TH3Y H4V3 4LL B33N C4T3GOR1C4LLY T3RR1BL3
3V3RY S1NGL3 L4ST ON3 OF TH3M!!!!
HOW DO3S TH1S 3V3N H4PP3N??? WH4T K1ND OF 4BSURD COSM1C L4W 1S TH1S???
TH1S
1S

S
T
U
P
1
D

@admin C4N 1 R3QU3ST 4N 1ND3F1N1T3 MOR4TOR1UM ON J4CKS PL34S3 4ND TH4NK YOU

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

You can't unilaterally hate all people named Jack.

Just like you can't despise anyone named Robin.

I tried that once and the Southern Poverty Law Center got me classified as a hate group. Again.